1) Harmony between Christians and Muslims
2) What did Arab Christians give to Arabs?
3) Example of our Prophets and great men
4) Christians made in America
5) Our responsibility together
6) The Responsibility of Muslims toward Christians

1) Harmony between Christians and Muslims

A friend, like a brother of mine, Issam Nashashibi, wrote me a
letter from
which I will quote:

"As a child and early teen in Jerusalem, I grew up in a family
who celebrated Christmas, Easter, and the two Muslim Holidays, Eid el-Fitr
and Eid el-Adha. The family got together on those occasions.
We, as children, had the greatest time"..."I never felt any difference
between me and my cousins, the Abu-Dayyehs. We are one family; we shared
the good and the bad times then, as we do now. I did not hear of differences
between Christians and Muslims until I left Jerusalem. I know there are
no differences. The proof is my formative years in Jerusalem"...."These
Jerusalem experiences make it
difficult for me to believe anyone who mentions differences between
Muslims and Christians. To me, people who talk about these differences
do not know what I know. In reality, the differences are imaginary. These
alien images were planted by parties who want to keep us apart so they
can remain in charge of our destiny..."

In fact, we have been Arabs for about 6,000 years.
We have been Arab Christians for 2,000 years.
We have been Arab Muslims for about 1,500 years.

Our community as Arabs is older than our different religious communities.
We have proven that being an Arab is more important than being either Christian
or Muslim, when we fought together against colonialism, and when we built
our various countries. The colonialism of the past, as well as the present
occupation do not differentiate between us. They see us as merely Lebanese,
Iraqis, Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians... all suffering the same fate
under the same circumstances.

Some countries do not want any harmony between Arab Muslims and
Arab Christians. We have to be aware of that. We should put our hand
together to fight against that. Let me tell you about the beautiful harmony
we do have in our home countries, despite the up and downs.

The Arab Christians are the minority; the Arab Muslims are the
majority. Arab Christians were the first to build schools, universities,
hospitals, and other humanitarian organizations. The majority of our Arab
Muslims used to study in these schools and do so today, as well Some
schools have more than 70% Muslim students. That same percentage is at
the Christian Bethlehem and Bir-Zeit Universities.
A high percentage of Muslims are at the Jesuit University and the American
University of Beirut, as well.

The Arab-Christian investment in their home country serves everyone,
not just Christians. The relief services of Christian institutions serve
everyone equally.

If some Arab Muslims suffer economic hardship, it is not because
of any actions on the part of their Arab-Christian brethren. It is because
of the economic situation in Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon.
This economic hardship is affecting everyone, because of certain discriminatory
laws like the one of the state of Israel against all non-Jews (Note:
These laws never refer to "Arabs"), and because of the difficult situations
in the other countries where resources are minimal.
And, as usual, the majority suffers more than the minority.
Christians are less than 2% in the Holy Land, while the majority is their
Muslim bloodbrothers.

On this difficult economic situation, we as Arab Muslims and Christians
are living and suffering the same. Some Arab Christians as well some Arab
Muslims are rich, very rich sometimes, and they unfortunately forget their
other brothers and sisters be they Muslims or Christians.

The European countries and the USA, who are not always obviously
Christian countries at all, have a separation between State and religion.
These countries, far from being Christian like in their behavior at times,
have only interest in their own wealth and the rights of their own people.
They do not look at us equally as Arabs and they do not help the
Arab Christians. On the contrary, with their propaganda, they nourished
divisions between Christians and Christians, and between Christians
and Muslims. This is why as Arab Christians, we fight against the Christian
Zionists "made in America" or in Europe.

Every single Arabic City or Village where Muslims and Christians
have lived together for centuries have a common heritage, same food, same
way of dressing, same folklore and same traditions. The Israelis, for example,
who came from here and there, do not have any common heritage in the cities
that they created in Palestine or the settlements that they built. The
Christians and Muslims have a common history that we have to carry from
generation to generation and for centuries to come, as
our forefathers have done.

Harmony between Christians and Muslims could become an example
to the Jews who are living now with us. It would help in the future to
build trust and cooperation on the land that belonged to our common prophets.

2) What did Arab Christians give to Arabs?

I do not minimize the great merits that Islam gave to the
Arabs. On the contrary, it requires volumes to address the subject.
But as I represent the Arab Christian perspective, I need to write
about the merits of the Arab Christian. Many times these merits
are ignored or forgotten by our beloved Muslim sisters and brothers.

History and scholars acknowledge the merits of the Arab Christians,
especially on these issues, among many others:

a) Al-Mualakat: The Arab-Christian poets like Umru al Qais, Bin
Yagoth,Yazid Ben Abdel Madan,Hthala Al Tai', Hatem Al Tai',Al Hareth Bin
Abbad,Adi Ben Yazid,Zuhair Ben Abi Sulma, Al Nabiga Al Thoubiani,Antara
Al Absi and many many others, just to mention some were Christians and
many had their poems between the Mualakat in Mecca. These Mualakat were
important documents at that time that showed the greatness of the Arabic
language before Islam. The Mualakat influenced a lot of Muslim scholars
and still speak to them today.

b) The Holy Koran was written with the Arab characters which were
created by the Arab Christians of Hira (See Arabiyya, C. Rabin, in Encyclopedie
de l'Islam, 2nd Edition, Leyde et Paris,
1960, pp.579a-622b), (See also The History of Arabs before Islam, Jawd
Ali, Vol. 8, pp.178-179; vol.
9, p. 689).

c) Many Arab Christians were scholars and served as ministers at the
first Muslim Caliphates. "The Christian Arabs of Gassanids in Syria
and Montherits in Iraq came from the largest Arab tribe of Qahtan, and
are related to the Arab tribes of Aws and Kazraj. As ancient Semites,
they were translators, men of medicine and sciences and great scholars,
to whom Muawya Ibn Abu Suffian, builder of the Umayyad Empire, entrusted
the administration of the state and enrichment of its culture and learning
process. On the shoulder of those Christians, Muawyah, this king and Caliph
and his successors, built the foundation of the Arab Golden Age which reached
its zenith in the days of theAbbasid Caliph AI-Ma'moun 813-833." Jarir,
and Al Akhtal, the famous poets with Al Farazdaq who enriched the Arabic
Poetry during the Ummaiads era.

d) The Arab Christians were the first to translate into Arabic
a lot of books of philosophy, geography, medicine and history from Aramaic-Syriac,
Greek and Latin. On this they were the bridge between the East and the
West at that time, which helped the Arabs to build their own culture that
would become the Golden Arab Age at the time of Al Mamoun.

e) They worked the first Arabic Grammars

f) They fought with their bloodbrothers the Muslims against the
Christian Byzantines as well against the Persians, the Crusaders. Issa
Al Awam who was a brigade leader with Sallaheddine against the Crusaders
while some Muslim Kings were supporting them.The Arab Palestinian women
of Al Jalil used to warn Salaheddine of the
crusader troops by lighting candles at night from their windows.

g) They stood with their bloodbrothers and sisters, the Arab Muslims,
against the Turks,(the Nationalist leaders that were hung by the Turks
in 1916, were both Christians and Muslims) the French and the English.
They built with them the national Arab countries. And they still
stand with them to build the future of Palestine, to defend South
Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights.Najib Azouri, who was the publisher
of Al Yaqtha, the awakening, that was a newspaper warning of the Zionist
Danger, since the end of the 19th Century.

True Muslims know the importance of brotherhood between Muslims and
Christians. The Great Prophet Mohammed (SAS) has respected and trusted
Christians as bloodbrothers and bloodsisters to his people.

"This is a message from Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those
who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.Verily I, the servants,
the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens;
and by Allah! I hold out against anything thatdispleases them.
No compulsion is to be on them.Neither are their judges to be
removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one
is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything
from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would
spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies
and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.
The Muslims are to fight for them.
If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take
place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting
her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented
from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the Muslim community is to disobey this covenant till the Last
Day (end of the world)."
May God's mercy be enough for the sincere love that Jews, Christians
and
Muslims have for him, and may his grace shine upon all of his
three children.
From Him do we originate and to him do we return."

b) There was an old Christian man. During his prime, he had worked
hard, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. Now he was old, infirm
and blind. He stood on a street corner, begging. People passed by. Some
ignored him, while others took money and dropped coins in his hand. Till
one day, the commander of the faithful, Hazrat Ali (AS) saw him there.
And he wondered:

"What an ill fate has be fallen this old man? Has he no son to
look after him in his declining years?
Isn't there any way this poor soul could be saved from such indignity?"

He inquired of the old man's friends and acquaintances. They all
testified that the old Christian had been a hard worker in his good days
but had no savings. He had none to look after him, so he haf started begging.

"What a shame!" Hazrat Ali (AS) said. "As long as he was strong
and able, he worked and served the society. All of us benefited from his
labor, directly or indirectly. How can we forsake him now?"

And with these words, Hazrat Ali(AS) ordered the Treasury of Muslims
(Baytul-Mal) to pay the old man his full sustenance as long as he lived.

c) Many other examples can be cited, such as the conquest of Jerusalem
in 632 when Patriarch Sofronius handed Caliph Omar the keys to the
city. Caliph Omar refused the offer of Sofronius to pray in the Holy Sepulcher,
saying that one day the Muslims would reclaim the place as a religious
domain. So he prayed in what today is called the Mosque of Omar,
only out of respect for the Christians and to preserve their Holy Places.

d) In Damascus the Masjed Al Amawi was previousely St. John's Church.
Christians and Muslims used to pray at the same place for 72 years. The
Muslims on Fridays, the Christians on Sundays.Only When the Christian community
became a small community they transfered to a small place. The Historians
say: "The Christians used to say their own prayers and the Muslims their
own without any problem".

4) Christians made in America

Religious nationalism took its course in Christian Europe in medieval
times and as far as the Seventeenth Century. It played itself out
in religious wars and persecutions.

The same thing happened to the Arab people, who were dismembered.
Their lands were flatly opened to the many conquerors who humiliated the
Arab personality and destroyed Arab civilization.
They were Persians, Mongols and their tribes of Seljuk-Turks, the Kurdish
and the Crusaders. And thereafter the Ottoman Turks, who also were
from the Mongol race, ruled and oppressed the Arab people and destroyed
their identity and their national entity and convictions, subduing the
Arabs for hundreds of years under their yoke.

Today again history is repeating itself as we are trying to build
our nationalies and countries.

But what is worst of all is that is the Christians "made in America"
or Europe who call themselves Christian Zionists have penetrated the Arab
countries and have convinced some of our Arab-Christians and Arab-Muslims.
They are trying to declare clearly their support for Israeli
hegemony and occupation of our countries and our culture.

They are more dangerous to Arab-Christians than to Muslims, because
they come under the name of Christianity to destroy the harmony between
bloodbrothers. They are also one of the reasons why
some Muslims reacted to build Islamism and fanaticism.
The Arab Christians and Arab Muslims should stand together against
them. Arab Muslims should never confuse them with their bloodbrothers and
sisters the Arab Christians. On the contrary, they should protect the Arab-Christians
against such a dangerous phenomenon in our Arab-Countries, especially in
Palestine, where they have the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

5) Our responsibility together

Brotherhood between Arab Christians and Arab Muslims is the most
important
investment in our future together.

Irrespective of the name you use for the Eternal One, be it God,
Allah, Hashem, Adonai or other; we have been enjoined by that power to
live together. There is a reason for this. It is to bear witness, to love
each other and to show that religion is a way to meet, to share, to love
and to cooperate, and NOT to hate and destroy each other.

Patriarch Michel Sabbah has commented, in one of his talks some
years ago:

"We are called to love each other. We should educate ourselves
to love. From the churches, mosques and synagogues, the same exhortation
should be proclaimed: Christians, love your Muslim and Jewish brothers;
Muslims love your Christian and Jewish brothers; Jews love your Muslim
and Christian brothers..."

The blood of all our martyrs, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims,
is mixed in the same soil. No one can separate the blood of those who died
for a just cause: the Arab Cause.

Shall we institute this brotherhood as a prophetic sign for a
better future, or shall we permit "outside fingers" to destroy our unity?

What will the future bring if we really love each other and build
each other?

Why do we allow fanaticism or exclusivism to take hold when we
all know from experience that this is not the way, this is not what God
wants of us?

This exclusionist fanaticism is the will of only a small minority,
and that "outside finger" is eager to help promote this, in order that
it may tell the outside world that Christians are persecuted by the Muslim
majority, and that therefore we, the government of the world, are the only
power needed to bring harmony and to defend the human rights of others.
We all know that this is a big lie. Others want only our resources and
look to their own interests and do not care for a single inncocent child
among us.

6) The Responsibility of Muslims toward Christians

Arab Christians as a minority expect from their Arab Muslims as
a majority a lot, just as Arab Muslims expect a lot from their blood brothers
and sisters, the Arab Christians. Let us open a dialogue.

a) Arab Christians want to be recognized as bloodbrothers and
sisters. In fact a lot of Arab Christian family names are the same as the
Arab Muslim ones, which means that we were brothers, sisters and cousins.

c) The decrease ofChristian presence in the Middle East and especially
in the Holy Land should be stopped.

Several analysts predict that 25 years from now there will be
no Christians living in the Holy Land.

What is the Holy Land without Christians?

What is the Middle East without Christians?

Bothers and sisters should never leave each other. We were put
together by God in the same land.
We need to stay together so as to respect the will of Allah.

The Arab Christian presence should become an Arab and Muslim "RESPONSIBILITY."

Arabs and Muslims should help Arab Christians to stay in Middle
East and the Holy Land.They should stand with them.

We do not need the state of Israel, NATO or the UN to act as our
protectorate.

We do not need any protectorate. History has shown that protectorates
do not help, but create divisions. We have the ability to protect ourselves,
if we believe that we are in reality, brothers and sisters, equal in rights
and in duties in our home countries.

Therefore, opportunities for serving any kind of government or
civil administration should be based, not on religion, but on the ability
of the person to serve his country. These opportunities should be equal
and just, where everybody feels himself at home.

And Muslims should trust their Arab-Christian brothers and sisters.
With them, they have lived a history of trust and harmony, where Arab Christians
showed their great love to their land, heritage, tradition, history and
people. This is where, together, they served with loyalty and were
faithful to the principles of sharing, cooperating and sacrifice.